Woods builds a 4-shot lead at Torrey

Tiger Woods pulls his driver from the bag as he gets ready for his tee shot on the fourth hole at Torrey Pines during the third round of the Farmers Insurance Open golf tournament, Sunday, Jan. 27, 2013, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi)
— AP

Tiger Woods pulls his driver from the bag as he gets ready for his tee shot on the fourth hole at Torrey Pines during the third round of the Farmers Insurance Open golf tournament, Sunday, Jan. 27, 2013, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi)
/ AP

Woods has a 49-4 record on the PGA Tour when he has at least a share of the 54-hole lead, and it's even more daunting when the lead is his alone. The only two players to come from behind to beat him over the final 18 holes were Ed Fiori in the Quad City Classic in 1996 when Woods was a 20-year-old rookie, and Y.E. Yang in the 2009 PGA Championship a Hazeltine.

In worldwide events, Thomas Bjorn (Dubai), Lee Westwood (Germany) and Graeme McDowell (Target World Challenge) have made up deficits against him on the last day.

"I played well. I played really, really well," Woods said after his third round. "It seemed like I was always in pretty good position."

He was in the rough off the tee only five times in the third round, though always at the right angle to approach the green. On his only other bogey, he missed the green by about a foot and his chip came out hot and ran some 7 feet by the hole.

Because of the quick turnaround, Fritsch didn't play in the final group with Woods despite being the closest player to him. He still felt the energy playing in the group ahead, with a large gallery lining both sides of the fairways.

"I've never played in this atmosphere before, especially in front of Tiger," Fritsch said. "So I think I handled it well. It was fun, and I've got to do it over again."

Fritsch chipped in for birdie on the par-5 ninth, but then missed the green at No. 10 and the fairway at No. 12, both leading to bogeys. He made pars the rest of the way until a closing birdie.

Compton had the best finish, with some theatrics to go along with it.

His 20-foot birdie putt on the 17th hung on the lip of the cup as the gallery groaned. Compton pointed at the ball just as gravity took over and the ball disappeared, and he slammed down his fist as the crowd erupted with cheers. Then, he hit 2-iron from 240 yards into the middle of the green, and his eagle putt banged into the back of the cup and dropped down to put him in third place.

"It was one of the coolest moments I've ever seen for me as a professional," Compton said. "That was kind of neat. Tiger's behind me, I'm trying to fight back, and it was on the lip. Stayed there for a minute and then just the crowd's reaction, my reaction ... I don't even know what I did. But it was great."

The day wasn't so great for Billy Horschel, who started the third round two shots out of the lead and had to birdie the last hole to salvage a 76. He fell nine shots behind.

The plan was for the final round to end at 5:30 p.m. EST for television, which would mean Horschel and as many as 15 other players wouldn't have time to get to Phoenix for a qualifier and their only chance to get a spot in the Phoenix Open.